TERRITORIES: On the 48th Anniversary

Until last week Puerto Ricans felt no urge to celebrate the anniversary (July 25) of the landing of U.S. troops on their island in 1898. Then Harry Truman gave them reason. On that day he chose a native Puerto Rican as their governor, the first to hold the post. He was burly 49-year-old Jesús Toribio Piñero, since 1944 Puerto Rico's elected Resident Commissioner in Washington.

In his choice of William Henry Hastie to be Governor of the Virgin Islands, the President had sent a Negro to govern a predominantly Negro population. In picking Jesús Piñero, he said that he was...

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